How Donald Trump Secured a Gaza Strip Breakthrough Which Escaped Joe Biden

Initially, the Israeli air strike on the Hamas negotiating team in Doha appeared like yet another escalation that drove the prospect of peace out of reach.

The attack on 9 September violated the sovereignty of an American ally and risked expanding the hostilities into a broader regional conflict.

Diplomacy seemed to be collapsing.

However, it turned out to be a pivotal event that has led in a deal, declared by President Donald Trump, to release all remaining hostages.

That represents a objective that Trump, and Joe Biden previously, had pursued for almost 24 months.

This marks just the first step towards a lasting resolution, and the specifics of disarming Hamas, administering Gaza and full Israeli withdrawal remain to be negotiated.

But if this agreement holds, it could be Trump's defining accomplishment of his second term - one that eluded Joe Biden and his diplomatic team.

Trump's unique style and key alliances with Israel and the Middle Eastern nations seem to have contributed in this success.

However, as with many foreign policy wins, there were also factors involved beyond the influence of either man.

Strong Ties That Eluded Biden

Publicly, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all smiles.

Trump likes to say that Israel has no better friend, and the Israeli leader has described him as Israel's "most supportive friend in the US presidency". And these warm words have been matched by deeds.

During his first presidential term, Trump relocated the American diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the contested capital and abandoned a traditional American stance that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are against international law, the position under global norms.

After Israel began its air strikes against the Islamic Republic in June, the US leader ordered American aircraft to strike the nation's atomic sites with its largest non-nuclear weapons.

These visible shows of backing may have allowed the president the room to exert more influence on the Israeli government in private. As per sources, the president's negotiator, his representative, browbeat Netanyahu in the latter part of the year into accepting a halt in fighting in exchange for the freeing of a number of captives.

After Israeli forces launched strikes against Syrian forces in July, even bombing a place of worship, the US president urged his counterpart to change course.

The leader exhibited a degree of will and insistence on an Israeli prime minister that is virtually unprecedented, according to Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's unheard of of an US leader literally telling an Israeli leader that they must agree or else."

Joe Biden's connection with the Israeli administration was always more strained.

His administration's "close embrace approach" argued that the US had to embrace the nation openly in order to enable it to moderate the nation's military actions in private.

Underneath this was the president's nearly half-century of backing for the state, as well as deep disagreements within his Democratic coalition over the conflict in Gaza. Each move Biden took risked fracturing his own political backing, while Trump's loyal conservative voters provided him more flexibility to act.

Ultimately, domestic politics or personal relationships may have had little impact than the reality that, during his term, Israel was unwilling to make peace.

Eight months into Trump's second term, with Iran weakened, Hezbollah to its immediate north significantly reduced and the coastal strip devastated, all its key military goals had been accomplished.

Commercial Background Helped Secure Gulf's Backing

An Israeli strike in Doha, which killed a local national but not the intended targets, prompted Trump to deliver an final demand to Netanyahu. Hostilities had to end.

Trump had given the Israeli military a relatively free hand in Gaza. He provided US armed support to Israeli operations in the neighboring country. However an attack on Qatari territory was a separate issue entirely, moving him towards the stance of Arab nations on how best to end the war.

Several Trump officials have informed media outlets that this was a decisive moment which motivated the president to apply maximum pressure to finalize an agreement.

This US president's close ties with the Arab monarchies are widely known. He has commercial interests with the emirate and the UAE. He began both his presidential terms with official trips to the kingdom. Recently, he also visited in Qatar and the UAE capital.

His normalization agreements, which normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, such as the UAE, was the biggest diplomatic achievement of his initial presidency.

The time devoted in the cities of the Gulf region earlier this year helped change his thinking, according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations. Trump did not visit Israel on this regional tour but visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar where the leader heard repeated calls to put a stop to the conflict.

Within weeks after that attack on Doha, the president was present nearby as the prime minister personally called Qatar to express regret. Subsequently, the Israeli leader signed off on the president's comprehensive proposal for the territory - one that additionally had the support of key Muslim nations in the area.

Assuming Trump's relationship with his counterpart provided him the room to influence Israel to reach an agreement, his past with Arab rulers may have ensured their backing, and helped them convince the group to commit to the arrangement.

"A key factor that evidently occurred was that President Trump developed influence with the Israeli government, and through intermediaries with the militants," says Jon Alterman of the a research center.

"This was crucial. The capacity to do this on his own schedule, and not succumb to the demands of the warring sides has been a challenge that many previous presidents have faced, and he appears to handle with some success."

The fact that the president is much more popular in Israel than Netanyahu personally was leverage that Trump used to his advantage, he adds.

Currently the Israeli government has agreed to freeing more than 1,000 detainees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and has agreed to a partial withdrawal from the strip.

The group will free all the captives still held, both alive and deceased, taken during the initial October 7 Hamas attack, which caused the loss of over 1,200 Israelis.

A conclusion to the conflict, which has led to the destruction of the territory and the fatalities of over 67,000 {Palestinians|Pal